the beginning begins...

I don't know how to begin this per say so I guess I'll start with the typical introduction...

"Hi, I'm Zann."

This is going to be a blog for anyone and everyone that's interested in the next adventure in our life. And when I say "our" life, I'm talking about my family and I's life. My husband is Scotty and we have 2 gorgeous toeheads, Sebastien and Spencer. They are the joy of our lives.

We met Jill and James in April/May of 2006 through our mutual friends Kevin and Jen. I think our first official meeting was at a birthday party for Kevin and Jen's lil' boy. It could have been before that but since I have a horrible memory, I can't tell you for sure. We knew that James and Jill had been through a few IVF treatments but didn't really know their story. I just remember my heart broke for Jill the first time we talked 'cos you could see in her eyes how much she wanted a baby. Again, lack of a good memory makes me doubt the next statement but I believe between May and December, James and Jill tried one more IVF treatment that was unsuccesful.

Scotty and James worked together, along with Kevin whom I mentioned above, and so we all attended the annual holiday hoopla to mingle and be uncomfortable with a bunch of people you don't really know. We were lucky to snatch a table and all sit down for dinner together. We were talking about the unsucessful IVF treatment and what their options were at this point. Basically, it came down to adoption for them. I leaned over and whispered in Jen's ear first while the guys were getting a drink, "I want to be a surrogate for her" in which she freaked out and said "OH MY GOSH" with a big smile on her face. Once Scotty got back, I leaned over to him and said "Hey babe, I want to be a surrogate for James and Jill" and instead of getting a response like :
"Are you out of your mind?" or
"You're crazy." or even
"Heck no."
He looked at me and he said "Heck yeah." I couldn't believe his response 'cos I was starting to think I was crazy. We told James and Jill and I think the best description would be floored and shocked at the same time. But they both had huge smiles on their faces. I knew at that moment that they were put in our lives for a reason. We agreed to let the holidays pass, or moreso, survive the holidays, and we'd get together after the New Year. I remember going home that night and having so much joy. If all was to go well, I'd help give 2 people the chance at being a family.

We got together a few weeks later and sat down and talked over pizza. At that point, we had discussed doing surrogacy for James and Jill with our families and everyone was supportive of us. I don't even really remember what we talked about that night but I think it was to just make sure the 4 of us were all on the same page. Scotty and I wanted to help them have a baby and they were interested in us helping. Jill gave me all the information on her doctor and wanted me to contact him and ask ANY and ALL questions that I could possibly have. Let me tell you, that girl knows her stuff. I know she's going to teach me a lot about this process since she's gone through it herself.

Over the year, 2007 that is, we talked about it but never really set anything up. Early December, Jill sent me a lovely email just giving us an out if we needed one. You see, Scotty got laid off in October and hasn't been able to find any work and she didn't want the added stress of having their baby put on top of all that. She said that James' lil' sister had offered to help them out and she was ready to go now. And they were really keen to get going on the process and if I wasn't ready. She just wanted me to let her know and they would use her instead. I emailed her right back after talking to Scotty and just said that I'm still highly interested, that I know I can carry babies and I already have all the stretchmarks to go along with it. So that was it. We started to really move forward at that point.

She scheduled the first of the appointments. The meeting with Dr Acacio and his staff was on January 17th and then we had to meet with a pyschologist on the 18th (you know, to make sure we were somewhat sane).

So as the title states - the begininning begins...